San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-18
CHAPTER XVII.

If | were asked to mention the man of
my acquaintance whom | consider the
least fitted, by nature and by habit, to
| impose upon a child Of average acuteness,
| l should unhestatingly name Jim Leigh.
| Yet such is the power Of love, and so prone
are the best of us to listen TO casuistical
arguments, that he embarked upon the
career of duplicity suggested to him by
| his friends with readiness, not to say a
Zest, Of which he ought certainly to have
been incapable. That he and Lady Mil
| dred and Beauchamp We're actuated by
| the best of good motives in behaving as
| they did don't deny; but, as a more or
less impartial locker on, felt my sympa-
| thies veering round, while / watched
| them, to the side of the unsuspecting
| old man who was so completely taken in
| by their maneuvers. Lord Staines, / be
| lieve, looked upon his daughters engage
| ment as being to all intents and purposes
an accomplished fact. He saw that she
| walked or rode every day with her sup
| posed lover; he did not know that as soon
| as they were out of sight of the house they
were joined by jim, and that Beauchamp
| then promptly hurried away TO smoke q
| cigar with ME, thereby interfering con-
| siderably with my daily labOrs. He seemed
| to be satisfied that all would now go WE'LL
but in truth the apathy which had fallen
upon him after his grandson's death was
hardly to be stirred by any event, great or
small
One event, for which he, and indeed all
London must have been fully prepared,
took place at this time and created no lit
tie excitement in the neighborhood; for
we do not study the society journals
much in our parts, nor does the gossip of
the clubs reach us. | say that the finan-
cial collapse of the Bracknell establish
ment can have surprised no one who had
lived in or near the fashionable world
during the foregoing year or so; yet, if
her statement was to be believed, it fell
with all the cruelty of an unexpected
blow upon the person who, one would
have thought, should have been best
aware of its imminence. Late one even
ing, Hilda, bringing with her a stupen-
dous pile of baggage, arrived at Staines
Court to cast herself, somewhat dramati-
cally, upon the protection of the head of
the house. | happened to be dining there
and witnessed her entry upon the scene,
which was of a nature to melt the hardest
heart. In voice broken by emotion she
told her lamentable tale. She had-so she
assured us-no longer a home; perhaps
even she had no longer husband; for to
BracknelPs whereabouts she was unable
to obtain any clew. On her return to
Wilton place, after paying a round Of
visits, she had found the minions of the
law in possession, and her personal prop
erty seized "They have taken every
thing-everything" she cried. Gwen
my Bible and Prayer Book are in their
hands,"
At this an unfeeling member of her
small audience had the bad manners to
laugh; but she treated this interruption
with the contempt that it deserved, and
went on to enlarge upon the pitiable
plight in which she found herself. She
had nothing left but the clothes she stood
up in-those and a few others which she
had taken with her to the country. Not
a word of warning, not a single direc-
ton or suggestion had been vouchsafed to
her. After being neglected for years, she
was finally abandoned! "And now" she
concluded, in tragic tone, ''what am /
to doY'
81 should think" answered Lord
Staines, rather peevishly, "that you had
better go and wash your hands and face,
and then have some dinner"
The advice was more practical than
sympathetic, but such as it was she acted
upon 1t. She may have had some fear
that her father-in-law would recommend
her to go straight to the rectory (which
was certainly what | should have done in
his place., and no doubt she preferred re-
naming where she was to seeking that
refuge.
Staines Court is large house, but one
of its temporary inmates decided without
oil hot
tain him and Lady BraCknell at the same
time. II shall be off the first thing to-
morrow morning." Beauchamp informed
me in confidence, after he had beat q pre-
cipitate retreat from the drawing room,
taking me with him. Called away on
urgent business, don't you know. That
woman has brass enough for anything,
but I'll be hanged if l can trust myself to
speak to her"
Beauchamp, who, az l have already
mentioned, had latterly favored me with
good deal of his company, had, in the
course of our conversations, taken occa-
sion to express his opinion of Lady Brack-
nell in the most unequivocal terms.
There is no iconoclast so ruthless as an ex-
devOtee; and, indeed, it must be very I'M
pleasant to discover that q woman whom
you have been disposed to worship has
not only made fool Of you, but done her
best to rob and murder you into the bar
gain.
So Beauchamp took wing; and whether
Lady Bracknell was annoyed or relieved
by his flight cannot venture to say. She
was in some respects SO sharp and in
others so oddly insensible that, for aught
know, she may still have flattered her
self that she might be able to lure him
back into her net. Be that as it may, it
was hardly to be expected that her lady
ships humor should be of the best at such
time, and from the assiduity of her at
tentions to her father-in-law, as well as
from the extreme amiability which she
displayed toward Lady Mildred, l felt
pretty sure that her heart was full Of
cursing and bitterness. Also, although
upon the whole she was civil enough to me,
she favored me with look every now and
then, which understood to mean, "Wait
little longer, my friend haven't for
gotten your fussy interference with my
schemes, and l mean to be even with you
yet"
Now, so far as myself was concerned,
accepted these silent and smiling threats
with good deal of equanimity, for l
really did not see how it was in her power
to do me any harm; but Of course it was
open to her to infict vicariOus trouble
10 b LVEaEaedl